This is the ‘Welcome to Shakespeare’ introduction for my Grade 6 English Language and Literature students, but anybody else is welcome to add to the discussion 🙂
There are three topics to research:
- About Shakespeare
- About Shakespeare’s time – What was England like in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean times?
- About Shakespeare’s work – his plays and his poetry
Please share any interesting information you find via the comments below…
Has anybody read or seen Hamnet?
Some students have got so excited about the upcoming Shakespeare unit that they’ve been writing whole blog posts instead of just commenting here. Assuming some students will come to this party later, here are a few links to help you find some of the work typed up and shared before Spring Festival:
https://mushroom-scholars.org/shakespeare-shaking-spheres/
https://mushroom-scholars.org/fun-facts-about-shakespeare/
https://mushroom-scholars.org/shakespeares-sonnets/
https://mushroom-scholars.org/william-shakespeare/
https://mushroom-scholars.org/shakespeares-hidden-messageromeo-and-juliet/
https://mushroom-scholars.org/the-true-definition-of-shakespeares-name/
https://mushroom-scholars.org/16993-2/
There is also an interesting discussion taking place here: https://mushroom-scholars.org/is-shakespeare-worth-learning-about-in-school-%e3%80%8cdiscussion%e3%80%8d/
You can also read some of last year’s student commentary on Shakespeare here:
https://mushroom-scholars.org/appreciating-shakespeare
Cities when Shakespeare lived
· Crowded and dirty: London was growing fast, but was smelly, noisy, and polluted.
· Dangerous: Plague outbreaks often closed theaters. Crime was common, and public punishments were frequent.
· Changing society: A wealthy merchant class was rising.
London was first ruled by Queen Elizabeth I and later by King James. King James united the crowns of England and Scotland and strongly supported the theater. Shakespeare’s plays were very popular during this period.